Sunday 16 March 2008

Another quick update and a giveaway!

Hello!

A very quick update due to work work work...bleugh. I now have a full size (width and height) theatre with fully jointed dolls in the shop. It's relatively expensive due to the sheer quantity of ink and the cost of the Etching paper. However, I think it is rather beautiful and although it takes a it of time to construct, being more detailed, I think it was well worth it.

Here's some pics.

Along side the smaller theatre.

I'm only doing 20 of these as they are a bit long winded production wise, but the very first one i'd like to give away! :) Obviously there's a catch, heh. I'd like to hear what kind of theatre you'd build. Don't worry I won't steal your ideas! :) I will pick one from random and send the theatre your way.

For what it's worth, the theatre's story (which i'll one day illustrate, curse this procrastination) is that the girl on the dragon has a horn which contains a heart, and when she blows it, it reveals what a person really thinks and feels. Does anyone else think that this could be quite devastating?

19 comments:

hautenature* said...

I think if I had your talent, that a technicolor alien bunny in a foreign, colorful, other worldy forest would be fascinating. Immediately I am drawn to the mermaid type images that you already create--so a real departure into something totally fantastical and imaginary would be lovely.

Susan Mitchell said...

I would love to build a victorian circus or victorian pantomime. Your work very much captures that vintage feel with such lovely, ornate details :)

Rachel F said...

I think I'd like to do a "behind the scenes" theater. Underneath the theater floor, someone controls those waves for the mermaid. Maybe show the players underneath the stage (like the adventures of baron Münchhausen scene.)

Brahdelt said...

For some time I wanted to construct the type of a one-performer-theater with a small wooden frame, backpack type, and puppets, to show plays to children during the medieval events I'm attending. Unfortunately puppet theaters are much, much younger than Xth or even XIIIth century, so I dropped this idea. Now I'm rather thinking about the paper doll theater for my own entertainment. *^v^*

Lauren said...

I have always loved the album cover for My Fair Lady from the 60's. It was designed by a famous illustrator whose name escapes me. He had God in the clouds with Henry Higgins as his puppet who in turn had Eliza Doolittle as his. What fun a stage that could display this triple action be.

Your work is absolutely wonderful and I so enjoy viewing it.

ikkinlala said...

I'd build a theatre of the waterfall on the creek near where I live. That way I'd be able to share the place with somebody who lives far away.

Snippety Gibbet said...

Actually, your animata have given me ideas to use with my elementary kiddies. My little ones are going to illustrate their own shadow puppet productions of their writings or writings they love. I'm really excited to begin the project, and will send you a link to the final product....a couple of months from now. = ) I love your work, and would love to have one to display.

Robin said...

I would love to build an old fashioned seance theater with floating instruments and "spirits" that appear, and maybe some ectoplasm :-)

Creager Studios said...

I would build a theater of Native American lore and spirits... of life revolving around a tipi... that changes light with the rising of the sun and coming of the moon... a sky filled with millons of stars and a desert filled with life... it would be pure magic and wonderment.....

I Love your theater...it made me smile ear to ear....

Jodi Creager

Lonnie Bullington said...

I would love to make a theater in Marie Antoinette's court skirts. Just like Nancy Waters did and what Dimi Moore posed for on the cover of George, but instead of just being the back drop the theater would be in the skirts. With Judy and Punch providing the intertainment.

Christine said...

I would have a theatre that shows the scene from sort of a birds eye view. It would be divided into two rooms. One in which a person is dying, their spirit leaving their body. The second room would be of a woman giving birth at the same time. I could sort of see the theatre being circular and able to move with a light inside or from behind.
I recently lost my grandmother, so the mystery of where we came from and where we go after this life has been on my mind ,especially as of late.
Your work is fabulous!

Colleen C. said...

I would build a theater of elves in a forest. It would include their cave dwelling and the animals they have befriended in the woods.

stellamystar said...

Hey there!
I have seen you about the Mafia 'hood for some time and was looking you up as I was in Pollock's Shop in London and saw your stuff, and now I find you are doing theatres!
It is a little known fact that I was obsessed with toy theatres as a child and in fact visited Pollock's museum once and assisted with a performance. I have the pic of me and my bro doing so and think the theatre is now in Pollock's shop on the counter.
Anyway in the spirit of your contest, my theatre would be one based on Pollock's museum, complete with toys coming to life.

hope to see you soon

Jo

Anonymous said...

Before we begin, I would like to state that I am a loooong time stalker, first time commenter. And since I have the opportunity, I'm just going to say everything I've had building up in my head on the subject. Do not be alarmed. It may seem like my brain is exploding onto the screen, but its really just bubbling out my ears a tad.

I think that you are an amazingly talented artist. Your style is truly your own, and the images and forms speak to a playful and bottomless imagination that seems to flow right out through the pen to the paper. This fact is what makes your artwork full of such life and magic. I want my entire world to be one huge Little Robot scene.

I'd give my right foot to have one of your beautiful designs, but now is that special time in my life where money seems to be more elusive than a certain sea-faring alabaster literary figure, so I can never buy any of your beautiful creations. But now, I am determined to impress you into giving me a piece of your artwork with my incredible feats of imagination! Observe, as I (hopefully) wow you!

My idea: I have always loved the Mexican holiday of Dia De Los Muertos. It is a time to celebrate, not fear, life and its inevitable end, while fondly remembering those who passed with memories of their favorite things from life as they come up to visit their family on Earth. The color palette is so rich, the artwork is so bold, and everything is a little vignette.

I would want to make a Dia De Los Muertos-themed theatre for a made-up person. It would be somewhat reminiscent of an altar, but the features and items inside would speak to the person's former life. The calacas, or playful skeleton, could be hanging out in the middle, maybe with some sort of rig to make it dance. The theatre's frame could be a ring of beautiful roses in rich red, yellow, and purple, and a big corazon sagrado in the background.

What I really like about this idea, though, is being able to invent the subject of the theatre. It's a chance to create an entire person, complete with backstory, likes, dislikes, and even determining how they died. It could even be done through a game of Exquisite Corpse. So exciting!

Okay, I'm going to stop rambling now. I hope my idea is appealing to you, (or at least makes sense).

--Annie
ashapiro05 (at) yahoo (dot) com


P.S.- If you ever want to do a trade, let me know. I make all sorts of fun things!

Ann Downer-Hazell said...

I would build a sea captain's study with a changeable cabinet of wonders (feather money, dodo mummy, narwhal tusks), and a circular stair to the roof, with topiary and a telescope!

Ann Downer-Hazell said...

Oh, and everyone should check out who already hasn't Nancy Willard's A VISIT TO WILLIAM BLAKE'S INN...a picture book with fabulous art by the Provensens. Willard built the inn as a doll's house while she was working on the book.

Dimity said...

....a dark dark forest with colours of emerald and ruby hidden in the foliage, and there emerging a creature, or a person.. our character, perhaps a creatureperson, maybe a girl with a lions belly and moth wings..? and in the distance a tower, with a white pearly roof, encircled by more moths and lit by the crescent moon and a bright bright star. the colours would be rich and dark and jewelly, the imagery a bit tarot, a bit jungian, and a bit psychedelic..hahhahaha. woop! :) Thankyou!!!! for such awesome imagery, I'm going to buy as much of your stuff as i can't afford, but I will LOVE it and put it up in my studio 'to inspire and entertain and mash up im brain..' OH how come you are not doing this full time and exhibiting all round the world? But then I wouldn't be able to buy it... hmmm.. Best of luck!! Hope our paths cross one day.. :)
XXX

Mohsin said...

Nice work, very much creative are

lil.sunshine said...

I've done this paper theater based on on Quentin Tarantino's film, Kill Bill vol 1. The scene was when the bride and o-ren ishii fought outside of house of blue leaves =) i can send you a picture if you want. It was all thanks to you. love your work! =)